Conventional anti-vibration structures have been proposed in which a vibration generation section is supported on a vibration receiving section by an anti-vibration structure employing a multi-layered material in which rigid hard plates such as steel plates, and soft plates with viscoelastic properties such as rubber are layered alternately to each other. In such anti-vibration structures, supporting rigidity is increased by the hard plates, and vibration generated by the vibration generating section is prevented, dampened, and absorbed by the soft plates undergoing elastic deformation.
Patent Document 1, for example, describes an elastic element serving as an anti-vibration structure that includes the multi-layered material described above. In patent Document 1, plural metal rings are layered and embedded parallel to each other in a rubber body, and both ends of the circular tube shaped rubber body are sandwiched between end plates. The end plates are coupled together at the center of the rubber body by a chain link embedded in the rubber body.
When vibration is input to the elastic element from random directions, the end plates of the elastic element undergo elastic deformation so as to tilt, such that so-called twisting deformation occurs. In such cases, at the side at which both the end plates move away from each other due to the tilting of the end plates, internal stress is concentrated at portions of the rubber body sandwiched at the inner circumferential side of the metal rings, and the durability of the rubber body is reduced.